I'm always a huge fan of games that try to spin the theme in an interesting way. I liked the visual effects, but I felt the audio didn't do enough to set the mood. I was also confused as to how to actually increase my happiness after going through several bowls.

Fascinating use of theme.

A nice and strange experience. Definitely original. I really liked the effects and the audio. It did seem a little weird to have a 'happiness meter' in a game with such a serious story, though. Perhaps a more subtle way of showing progress could work?

really liked this take on the theme :)

Picking the bowls isn't a real choice in terms of the game: one bowl seems to be just as good as another and the player has no way of knowing what's going to happen when they choose one. That takes away from the impact of the story fragments - which themselves are excellent.

It's a brave idea, but could be presented a lot better.

Also, in a game that depends heavily on written text it's a bit jarring to have spelling and grammar errors. It'd be worth getting someone else to proof-read the text for you - it can be hard to spot your own mistakes!

Very unique concept. At first I did not get what the game was about and did not know what to do (that's for not reading the description on the page). Some clearer instructions ingame would be nice.

Hi, this is Vector from the Victory Garden team! (posting under Solifuge's account)

This is interesting, but I feel like we're often not left with any meaningful choices--and though that can be done to make a point, there was a definite goal here, not an inevitable outcome. Furthermore, each of the vignettes was simple enough that I really didn't have to think about them.

Rather than a happiness meter, you might consider shifts in atmospheric effects to cue the change in mood.

And, on a writing note: the protagonist doesn't know or understand why he holds the hand and kisses the forehead of his own dying, suffering mother? Is he a sociopath? Is he disconnected from his own emotions? The choice you made is valid, but without any other context it's hard to see it as anything other than a contradictory callousness on the part of the protagonist.

Hey people. Thanks a lot for all of your comments.
I have to tell everybody that we are french, and we had to translate the whole text. We have a bilingual version. We tried to translate the best, but it was sure that we would have errors.

As for the choices with the bowls, we had a basic idea which was much more difficult and "fun" and also had a lot of gameplay and gave the score a sense (especially how you can feel to do better). But we had a lack of time. This is Game Jam !!! ^^

It's very important to keep people happy, especially when someone is dying. I do like your game as well as its music and story.

Really well done in the mood category. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a speck of dust in my eye.

Nice mood and very nice audio! Felt quite linear and there were no extensive gameplay elements. Would liked some graph or similar to show the path that you chose and how it affected happiness for example.

Great writing and presentation, but somehow it feels like it would work better as a straight-up visual novel, without the bowls thing.

Great concept. Good work :)

Something very different. I liked it. It seemed important to play the game a couple of times through to get more of the story.

Really cool and affecting, damn good job!

This is a very strong artistic piece. The bits of sounds and imagery let the viewer open their imagination. With all the pieces of the story, we get a sense of the character's life. Very touching and great job!

I do not think the game worked well for me, but what I saw of it, it was pretty interesting! I included it in part 19 of my Ludum Dare Compilation video series, if you'd like to take a look :) http://youtu.be/KGS8tZwHKag

Awesome entry :) !

Wow, I love to find a little gem like this. Great take on the theme!

Good use of the theme. The choices felt a bit random. The preview images didn't really help.
Also my laptop got burning hot. This should't happen in a visual novel.
Still, nice work.

I like the art style and sound - they go a long way towards setting your mood! I did feel like there wasn't enough connection between what I chose and what the end result was, so I felt a little helpless, like I had to try to read your mind to pick the "correct" answer. Also, the screen was too big - it barely fit in my 1440x900 laptop's display. Nice job handling a serious topic in this format!

A nice take on the theme! And I really liked the story and the soundtrack of this game!

Woah, that was really creepy! I know some people have said this game would have worked better as a straight-up visual novel, but I felt that the surreal, warped audio/visual affects did a great job at creating a tense & unsettling atmosphere. Without them, the story wouldn't have felt nearly as significant as it did.

Not only that, but it looks like there are a ton of different memories & dialog options to go through. I'll definitely be giving this game a few more spins to see what else I can find, as well as to see the rest of the endings (I think I got the "bittersweet" one). Nice job on making such a fleshed-out experience!